Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2025
Integration of Bioinformatics Approaches and Experimental Validations to Understand the Role of Notch Signaling in Ovarian Cancer
Published on: January 12, 2020
Use of appropriate statistical tools in biomedical research: Current trend & status
Anup Kumar1, Jai Kishun1, Uttam Singh1
1Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Background & Objectives:
Due to lack of appropriate statistical knowledge, published research articles contain various errors related to the design, analysis and interpretation of results in the area of biomedical research. If research contains statistical error, however, costly, it may be of no use and the purpose of the investigation gets defeated. Many biomedical research articles published in different peer reviewed journals may retain several statistical errors and flaws in them. This study aimed to examine the trend and status of application of statistics in biomedical research articles. Study design, sample size estimation and statistical measures are crucial components of a study. These points were evaluated in published original research articles to understand the use or misuse of statistical tools.
Methods:
Three hundred original research articles from the latest issues of selected 37 journals were reviewed. These journals were from the five internationally recognized publication groups (CLINICAL KEY, BMJ Group, WILEY, CAMBRIDGE and OXFORD) accessible through the online library of SGPGI, Lucknow, India.
Results:
Among articles assessed under present investigation, 85.3 per cent (n=256) were observational, and 14.7 per cent (n=44) were interventional studies. In 93 per cent (n=279) of research articles, sample size estimation was not reproducible. The simple random sampling was encountered rarely in biomedical studies even though none of the articles was adjusted by design effect and, only five articles had used randomized test. The testing of assumption of normality was mentioned in only four studies before applying parametric tests.
Interpretation & Conclusions:
In order to present biomedical research results with reliable and precise estimates based on data, the role of engaging statistical experts need to be appreciated. Journals must have standard rules for reporting study design, sample size and data analysis tools. Careful attention is needed while applying any statistical procedure as, it will not only help readers to trust in the published articles, but also rely on the inferences the published articles draw.
More Related Videos
07:41Performing Data Mining And Integrative Analysis Of Biomarker in Breast Cancer Using Multiple Publicly Accessible Databases
Published on: May 17, 2019
09:35A Protocol for Using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to Identify the Appropriate Animal Model for Translational Research
Published on: August 16, 2017
Related Concept Videos
01:12Statistical Software for Data Analysis and Clinical Trials
01:25Statistical Methods for Analyzing Epidemiological Data
01:19Overview of Biostatistics in Health Sciences
01:16Statistical Inference Techniques in Hypothesis Testing: Parametric Versus Nonparametric Data
Parametric statistics, as the name suggests, assumes that data follow a specific distribution, often a normal distribution. This assumption enables robust hypothesis testing and estimation. Parametric methods, like the Student's t-test or Goodness-of-fit test, are frequently employed in biostatistics due to their robustness. For instance,...
01:20Biostatistics: Overview
Discrete variables are...
01:23Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast,...